Tagged: Cartoon

Interview: Greg Weisman Talks ‘Gargoyles’

  • News
  • July 17, 2008

gargoyles-t-shirt-2166293When I was younger, there was a Disney cartoon that my friends and I loved and which impressed our parents with its maturity and layered story-telling. The series was called Gargoyles, and it told the story of a clan of warrior creatures from 10th Century Scotland who are brought to modern-day New York City via magical manipulation. Led by the noble gargoyle Goliath, the creatures find themselves to be strangers in a strange land, forced to hide while trying to find their new place in the 20th century. Soon enough, they wind up becoming superheroes, protecting the same humans who either fear them or don’t believe they exist.

Although the series lasted only two seasons (followed by the short-lived Goliath Chronicles series, which is considered apocryphal), its fan base remains extremely loyal — so much so, in fact, that a convention for Gargoyles fans, called the Gathering of the Gargoyles, has been held each year for more than a decade now. In recent years, we’ve seen much of the television series finally released on DVD, and Slave Labor Graphics has begun publishing an ongoing Gargoyles comic book series and spin-off miniseries, Bad Guys, headed up by series creator Greg Weisman and picking up where season 2 left off.

I spoke with Weisman (who also serves as story editor for the new Spectacular Spider-Man animated series) during the most recent Gathering of the Gargoyles event, and we chatted about the clan of winged Scottish warriors that he created so long ago and what the future holds for them. 

COMICMIX: So, we’re at the 12th annual Gathering of the Gargoyles convention. You have the new comic book series from SLG and the Bad Guys spin-off coming out now. You’re even talking about future spin-offs. All of this says there’s a decent fan base. So what’s happening that we still only have the first 26 episodes of season 2 on DVD?

GREG WEISMAN: Well, there’s a lot of turnover at Buena Vista Home Entertainment. You’ll have people there who are interested in the project and then you’ll have new people come in who aren’t so much. The ugly truth of it is that Season One sold very well, and the Season Two, Vol. 1 DVD did not sell so well. Even if, ultimately, it sold as well as the first season, we sort of lost Disney’s attention. So we need to get their attention all over again, and the best way to do that is by making sure that we continue to sell the DVDs that exist, show them that the comics are selling well. Gargoyles is SLG’s best-selling comic.

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George Carlin: Death and Coincidence

  • News
  • June 23, 2008

This editorial cartoon was published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, before word of George Carlin’s death.

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I know this is a somewhat different definition of the word "comic" than we usually address here on ComicMix, but Carlin did much – perhaps more than anybody else – to mold and shape our attitudes over the past 40 years. He will be greatly missed.

Thanks and a tip of the hat to the Chicago Tribune’s Charlie Meyerson. His paper also published this cartoon before news of Carlin’s death.

And no, I won’t say "passing." Carlin hated such euphemisms. 

Behind the New Yorker’s Jack Kirby Cartoon Ripoff

You’ve likely heard a bit about a recent cartoon in the New Yorker’s cartoon caption contest (seen at right) that was a pretty direct ripoff of an old Jack Kirby cover. The New York Post, among others, called it plagiarism.

This doesn’t delve too much into that debate, but Patrick House, the man who won that caption contest, gives an explainer at Slate.com about the formula he used to win, and what it says about the New Yorker.

His winning caption, by the way, was: "O.K. I’m at the window. To the right? Your right or my right?"

He also touched on the differences between this cartoon and the Kirby original:

And what better archetype of urban ennui could there be than a man in a cardigan holding a drink, yapping on his cell phone while blissfully unaware of looming dangers? A very similar cartoon by Jack Kirby from 1962 — similar enough to lead the New York Post to shout plagiarism — has the person inside the window frightened and cowering, sans drink, glasses, or phone. But that was 50 years ago, and drudge and complacency have settled on the urban landscape sometime between now and then. You must look for these themes in your cartoon and pounce.

When Superheroes Get Old

Geriatric superheroes appear to be all the rage these days, as a number of sites are linking to Italian artist Donald Soffritti’s illustrations of Superman, Spider-Man and a variety of other super-types in their Golden Years. Soffritti’s work is great, and I can’t help but giggle every time I look at his take on DC speedster The Flash.

(And please, for everyone’s sake, don’t tell DC/Warner Bros. about this stuff.)

(via ComicNerd.com)

 

Along the same lines, BoingBoing points us to a similar piece that fast-forwards the age of popular cartoon characters, including Popeye, Felix the Cat and Dennis the Menace (my personal favorite).

 

Happy Birthday: Brad Anderson

Born in Jamestown, New York in 1924, Brad Anderson started cartooning as a child. He attended Brocton Central School for high school, and while there sold his first cartoons (to an aviation magazine).

Anderson served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then attended Syracuse University’s School of Fine Arts. After graduating college, Anderson focused on advertising for a few years, but in 1953 decided to turn his full attention back to cartoons.

A year later, he created the cartoon strip Marmaduke. He still draws the strip today. In 1976, Anderson received the National Cartoonist Society Award for Best Panel, and in 1999 Syracuse University honored him with the George Arents Pioneer Medal.

Editorial Cartoon Investigated as ‘Hate Literature’

Nova Scotia newspaper The Chronicle Herald has vowed to defend an April 18 editorial cartoon by award-winning cartoonist Bruce MacKinnon after police received a complaint that the cartoon could qualify as "hate literature."

The cartoon (pictured here) depicted the wife of Qayyum Abdul Jamal, who was arrested in 2006 on terrorism-related charges that involved an alleged plot to bomb targets in Toronto and Ottawa. Jamal’s wife, Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, told The Herald that she intended to sue the federal government after the charges against her husband were stayed.

According to various reports, the cartoon was reported as potential "hate literature" to local police, but law enforcement officials are still determining whether a crime actually took place.

According to Dan Leger, director of news content for The Herald, "We will vigorously defend (the cartoon) and it would be an abuse of process for them to even contemplate initiating any type of action against the newspaper."

 

(via Journalista, ComicsReporter and just about everywhere, really)

On this day in history: Sting gets animated

  • News
  • January 9, 2008

Sixteen years ago, a musical icon made his cartoon-self debut on "The Simpsons" when sexy yogi and former "police"man Sting appeared on an episode called "Radio Bart."

In it, Bart’s practical joke turns ugly when all believe a little boy is trapped in a well. Sting helps fund raise for the cause by releasing a song called, "We’re Sending Our Love Down the Well."

Aw, Sting, waddaguy.

Here’s the song. We couldn’t actually get the clip from The Simpsons, because Fox has been exceptionally snarky with YouTube of late– so you’ll have to make do with this version, recast with Inayashu characters.

 

BIG BROADCAST: A Girl and Her Dinosaur

ajaxfront-2884329The Big ComicMix Broadcast starts our Second One Hundred with an exclusive preview of another Phase Two Project cooking up FREE from ComicMix. You take a cute girl, toss in a cartoon dinosaur and stir up a lot of wacky adventures and out pops Andrew Pepoy’s The Adventures of Simon & Ajax!

Plus Superman has the Deadline Doom, the Top Ten Comics & Graphic Novels are revealed and we play a game of "Where Did I Hear That Before"??

Simone likes people who PRESS THE BUTTON

Happy birthday, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner!

  • News
  • September 17, 2007

On this day in 1949, we had the premiere of Fast and Furry-ous, which brought us the first appearances of Wile E. (Ethelbert) Coyote and the Road Runner. And yes, Mark Evanier is responsible for the name Ethelbert. So come with us now and take a look while we try to figure out one question — why does Mel Blanc get a voice credit for this cartoon?

Spike and Mike, Sick and Twisted

  • News
  • August 3, 2007

Warning: Not necessarily office-friendly words abound.

Unless you go to an animation festival, and you should go to an animation festival, the only way to see independent animation is to look out for the traveling cartoon programs.  For a while it was Fans Only.  We clustered in this or that museum auditorium for the International Tournee of Animation, now defunct.

 

This was the traveling hothouse for the short cartoon, where animation lived on as an art form, not a commercial proposition.  The films came mainly from studios run by a government or a college mixed in with a few made by individuals.  And the individuals almost always had a grant.  Civilians in the audience were always surprised that at least half of these pictures are serious, not made to make you laugh; quite often a meditation on unpleasant things or a non-linear succession of disturbing images.

 

That’s show biz.

 

Then came Spike and Mike.  They were into animation, going to a festival or a traveling program now and again.  As showmen, they were dismayed that only, say, 20 percent of these films, on a bad day, would be what you would call entertainment.  They were all worthy of contemplation by the prepared, patient mind, but keep ‘em in their seats, keep ‘em hollering for more?  No.

 

Spike and Mike made change.  Their Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation began with a core of cartoons from the museum shows that were fast, stupid jokes or slightly slower jokes that were quite filthy.  They packed the rest of the program with other funny or gross films too low for the museum crowd.  They marketed it to regular theaters, to be shown as a regular attraction, not the weekend midnight slot.

 

They’ve been at it so long they have created their own sub-genre (and I certainly don’t mean than in a derogatory way, unless that would make you more likely to attend, then yes, I mean “sub” in the most demeaning, degrading sense possible).  Spike and Mike is now a learning tool, like a video game, that teaches you how to do something very specific, in this case to make a cartoon that can get past the gauntlet.

 

Consider if you will an audience.  An audience of mostly men, like what you used to see at the San Diego Comic-Con.  If the center wasn’t dry, a lot more of these people would be working on a cheap high, a perfect attitude for the gauntlet.  They’ve been whipped up by having free t-shirts thrown at the crowd.  They say, “Fuck Stoners,” or “I Fucked a Backstreet Boy;” a few are kind of rude.  Then they’re ready for the gauntlet.

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